Port Vale 1-0 Carlisle United: Uche Ikpeazu nets winner

Uche Ikpeazu's third goal of the season earned Port Vale a fortunate 1-0 victory against Carlisle who dominated the second half of their Johnstone's Paint Trophy clash.

A fierce shot from Vale debutant Jak McCourt, on loan from Leicester City, forced a fine save from visiting 'keeper Dan Hanford in the eighth minute.

But that was the only real moment of excitement during an uneventful first half as both sides struggled to produce any real quality in the final third.

Carlisle grew in confidence after the break, with Bastien Hery and Joe Thompson threatening either side of Steven Rigg's shot which forced an acrobatic stop from Jak Alnwick.

But Vale took the lead against the run of play on the hour after a fine interchange between their strikers Louis Dodds and Ikpeazu.

Dodds was the instigator with a determined run on the right of the penalty area and Ikpeazu smuggled the ball low inside Hanford's left-hand post with a right-foot shot from six yards.

Carlisle manager Keith Curle brought on their nine-goal top scorer Jabo Ibehre in the 68th minute and he almost made it number 10 five minutes later when his shot was cleared off the line by Ben Purkiss.

The striker was similarly unfortunate 10 minutes from time when his goal-bound shot was headed off the line by Ikpeazu following a right-wing corner from Danny Grainger.